8/10

I had an experience recently that this song felt like an ode to. I went home with a guy I met from Tinder, and it was our first date, and after politely excusing myself from the evening because I had to work the next day, I pulled him into my taxi. It was a tipsy, split second decision that I first sigh, then find myself grinning about immediately afterwards, because I had an absolute blast on that date. For me, Death by Denim’s latest single, Cigarettes and Honey shows a romantic notion to moments where you recognise you’ve fucked up but forgiven yourself because you had fun and… YOLO.

That emotion sits behind the gritty yet gentle yearning in the vocals of Nik Iliadis, who reps a vocal doppelganger in Alex Turner of Arctic Monkeys. Lyrically, the song shares a novel with the audience that’s organic to the millennial generation but a loose enough concept that can be relatable across age brackets. Just the delivery of the first line of the chorus will highlight the track’s ability to snake up your thigh, with these sensual extensions and additional syllables.

Even if you only dissect the introduction of the track, there would be so much to unpack. It’s emotive, with a drama that builds over time, grabbing you by the hand to take you into the musical treehouse built out of wirey keyboards and moody basslines by Palle Muzzalla (lead guitar) and George Gunson (bass/keys). The song grips the listener’s attention with sideways bend and snaps that leave you a little thirsty afterwards. It stands quite assuredly against other singles released this year from local Perth bands, and is definitely the band’s most evacious track from their current body of music.